It’s safe to say the fog has finally lifted in Ottawa.
It’s been a gradual process, really. The first sign was probably the long-term extension for Thomas Chabot. Trading for a future star in Josh Norris and then adding Tim Stützle, Jake Sanderson and Ridly Greig all in the same night helped things along too. When Brady Tkachuk signed that seven-year extension, that basically sealed it.
And yet with all those pieces in place and with a bright future now just around the corner, it felt like there still one important piece missing. Rebuilding the hockey side was always a fairly straightforward proposition- tear it down and then build it back up. Easy enough.
The more complicated part of this rebuild was always going to be off the ice. On the heels of a pandemic that basically started at a time when the fan base was at rock bottom, it was going to take time to get people back in the rink and back to supporting this team in a real and meaningful way. But we’re close.
If you were in the rink on Sunday afternoon, you felt it. And especially if you’ve spent any time in there in the last five years. It was just, different. From the tribute to Eugene Melnyk, the man who kept the team here in our city, and right up until the three star announcement, that was what it’s supposed to feel like in that rink. It hasn’t been there since 2017 and there were times when I worried we might never get back to that point.
There’s no doubt there are better days ahead for this hockey team. And now we know that the fans are ready to come along for the ride.
The Ottawa Senators travel to Montreal to take on the Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Don’t let their toilet-like logo, their generally diminutive stature, their obnoxious fans and their historically bad season fool you, folks- the Montreal Canadiens are not to be taken lightly. The Senators found this out the hard way during their last visit to the Bell Centre and it’s a mistake they shan’t make twice.
DJ Smith will meet with the media at 10:30 AM but it would make sense that they go back to the same lineup that made short work of the Red Wings this weekend. Although with Tyler Ennis out for the year, they’ll make at least one change. There was some juggling among the forwards on Sunday so we’ll see how they lineup when this one starts. A best guess for now.
Tkachuk-Norris-Joseph
Formenton-Stützle-Batherson
Kelly-White-Brown
Gaudette-Gambrell-Watson
Brannstrom-Zub
Del Zotto-Hamonic
Holden-Zaitsev
Anton Forsberg is the likely starter.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM tonight but that may be slightly delayed by a pregame ceremony to honour pregame ceremonies. Also, because the game is at the Bell Centre, the Senators will start the game shorthanded. The game is available on TSN2, TSN5, RDS, TSN1200 and on shady streaming sites all across Al Gore’s internet.
Wondering how these teams match-up or just here for that funny Habs toilet seat picture? Either way, the HEAD2HEAD table has you covered.
| HEAD2HEAD |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 25-37-6 (56 pts) | 19-39-11 (49 pts) |
| Goals For | 2.65 (26th) | 2.54 (31st) |
| Goals Against | 3.22 (23rd) | 3.77 (31st) |
| Power Play | 18.9% (22nd) | 13.4% (31st) |
| Penalty Kill | 80.8% (13th) | 74.4% (28th) |
| Shots For | 30.3 (20th) | 29.6 (2th) |
| Shots Against | 33.2 (26th) | 34.6 (30th) |
| Leading Scorers | Tkachuk- 49 pts Norris- 43 pts Stützle 42 pts Brown- 37 pts Batherson- 36 pts |
Suzuki- 51 pts Caufield- 34 pts Pitlick- 32 pts Anderson- 27 pts Hoffman- 25 pts |
| Starting Goalie | TBD | TBD |
